THE BIRD BLOG

Week 7: 8-6
Season-to-date: 48-22

Week 8 Predictions:
Arizona over Buffalo; Big game for Larry Fitzgerald, the All-World wideout from Pitt (alma mater!). The Cards are looking respectable ... what's up with that?
Green Bay over Washington; the Redskins playoff hopes will likely be dealt a fatal blow with a Packers win to even their record at 4-4. The Redskins should be five games behind the Eagles and essentially finished after Week Eight. Another coaching move from Daniel Snyder?
Tennessee over Cincinnati; ugh. What happened? These have to be the two most disappointing teams in the NFL.

• Indianapolis over Kansas City; rematch of last year's offensive showdown will be won again by the Colts. I have no idea how the Chiefs laid the smack-down on the Falcons, but the Colts are too tough. They actually can play defense. Chiefs are outmatched.
• Minnesota over New York Giants; big victory for the Vikings. This game will essentially make the NFC playoff chase a two-horse race for the two slot between the Vikes and Eagles and the rest of the pack sturggling to catch up. Vikings are too explosive for the surprising Giants, who are starting to play more like the sub-.500 team they are.
• Jacksonville over Houston; the battle of the surprising teams in the AFC South ... I like the Jags because of Byron Leftwich. Sean Salisbury was right: he's got "it", that special quality a top-flight player has. I like David Carr too, but Leftwich is something special. Slight edge to the Jags, but the Texans could make the playoff race interesting with a victory.

Cowboys over Lions; Gotta go with the 'Boys. They are playing a little better than the Redskins right now. A mild upset here.
Carolina over Seattle; Losing to Arizona? Ouch! The Seahawks look like they've given up faster than the Iraqi Army in the Gulf War I.
Broncos over Falcons; Nothing says "pretender" like getting annihalated 56-10 to a 1-4 team.
Chargers over Raiders; Chargers I guess. I'm surprised that the Chargers are playing so well ... I am not surprised to see the Raiders sucking wind.
49ers over Bears; ugh, someone has to win it ... the less said the better. Quick prediction: Mike Holmgren will coach the 49ers next year. It was the job he was born to have.

Game of the Week:

• Patriots over Steelers; these two teams have a combined record of 11-1 going into this game. I'm tempted to pick the Steelers just assuming that the Patriots will eventually have to lose, but it won't be this week. Tom Brady & Co., will out-play Big Ben and win a close one here at Heinz Field. The Steelers are good, but the Patriots are too cohesive and they'll be prepared to take on a rookie QB.

New York Jets over Dolphins; I'm sure that the NFL thought this would be a decent game when they scheduled it. Whoops. Jets in a blow-out. They are clearly the better team.

Eagles 24, Ravens 3; I bet the Ravens will be held under 200 yards of offense. They honestly might be better off going with the wishbone or something because they look utterly incapable of throwing the ball downfield.

And then there were two…

The Eagles survived the Browns 34-31 in OT to stay alive as one of the NFL’s two unbeaten teams. “Survived” is the best word for the Bird triumph because the team had a lot of flaws that were exposed in the game and their victory was not a sure thing. A few thoughts:

-The Steelers have the luck / misfortune to face both of the NFL’s undefeated teams in the coming weeks: Halloween brings the Patriots to Heinz Field, followed by the Eagles, provided they defeat the Ravens. Crisis or opportunity? The Steelers could make their season and gain valuable momentum by beating both teams.

Or they could suffer two tremendous losses. Either way, the next two weeks are critical to the Steelers season.

-Well, who thought that the Eagles would be 6-0? Few, I bet. This is the Eagles best start under Andy Reid (note: the Eagles have lost the previous three season-openers under Reid, to the Rams in ’01: 20-17, to the Titans in ’02: 27-24, and to the Buccaneers in ’03: 17-0). This means, coupled with the Giants 28-13 loss to the Lions, that the Eagles hold a two game lead on the Giants and a four game lead on the Cowboys and Redskins. The division race is hardly over, but if the Eagles go into the Monday Night game against the Cowboys 7-1 then that stretch of games, where they play the Cowboys, Redskins and Giants, should essentially clinch the division for them.

As long as the Eagles go 7-3 down the stretch they will finish with a 13-3 record, the best in the franchise’s history: Reid has finished 12-4 twice, and the Eagles went 12-4 under Dick Vermeil in 1980, when they last reached the Super Bowl. 13-3 (or 14-2) would be new territory for this team.

Oh, I stated the other day on Wingheads that the Eagles had never gone 6-0 before and someone was kind enough to point out the inaccuracy: the Eagles went 6-0 in 1981, before losing 35-23 to the Minnesota Vikings. The Eagles went on to go 4-6 and lose to the New York Giants in the wildcard round. This team will face adversity. Let’s hope they respond better than the ’81 team did.

-Was it me, or did the Eagles offense function better with Dorsey Levens in the backfield? Levens came up with some big runs between the tackles in the fourth quarter after Westbrook left the game.

-I’d complain that T.O. only had four catches if it weren’t for the fact that two were for TD’s and McNabb spread the ball around well: ten Eagles caught passes in the game.

-That roughing the passer call on Brian Dawkins was ridiculous: he barely touched Garcia, and there was no head-to-head motion or shoving on Dawkins part. The ref who called that should be ashamed and disciplined because it nearly cost the Eagles the game.

-The rushing defense turned in a sub-par effort out there. I thought Green and Suggs were going to run right through them, but they toughened up late and held them in check. Still, it was a pretty discouraging sight.

-McNabb continues to have a monster season: 28-43 (65%), 376 yards, 4 TD’s … So far this season he’s completing 65% of his passes, and has a TD-INT ratio of 13-3. If Donovan continues at his current pace he’ll throw for a little under 4,700 yards this season. His previous career high in yardage was the 3,365 yards he threw in 2000, a number he is halfway to eclipsing already.

Why so little MVP talk? Donovan is third in the NFL in QB rating. He will probably throw for 3,500 – 4,000 yards this season, and due to the Eagles anemic ground game, he is the focal point of the Eagles attack. Donovan was runner-up in the MVP voting in ’00 because he was the Eagles entire offense. He’s dramatically improved this season in accuracy and he’s a bigger play threat now.

-Next: the Ravens. Snort. No offense to Baltimore fans, but this team is incompetent on offense. Even with Jamal Lewis they look terrible. Without, they look worse. Call this one:

Eagles 24
Ravens 3

Other games: I was disappointed to see the Jets fall to the pats 13-7. I really thought that they’d have momentum and win it … What was the deal with the Falcons? They play well on defense and then give up eight rushing touchdowns? Yikes! … And the Seahawks! 3-0 and looking good, leading the Rams by 17 with five minutes left, and … POOF! There their season goes. They are 3-3 right now and fortunate that the Rams lost to the Dolphins yesterday. Suddenly the NFC playoff picture looks a little murkier: the Rams and Seahawks look weak, the Falcons looked awful, and Packers are struggling back into the hunt … the only strong teams in the NFC right now are the Vikings and Eagles. If they turn out to be competing for home-field, that Week 2 Monday Night win is going to loom large.

I hate to say it, but the AFC is a lot stronger: the Jets, Pats, Steelers, Jags, Colts and Broncos are all elite teams. The NFC teams look a lot weaker.

With all of the attention given to the Red Sox incredible comeback over the Yankees in the ALCS, it doesn't surprise me that football has gotten ignored these last two weeks. This weekend us Eagles fans will be glued to the tube to watch the Eagles-Browns game, but up in Foxboro, Massachusetts, the Jets and Patriots will flash in yet another Boston-New York battle of the titans. It will be a good game, likely decidied by the Jets revitalized offensive attack. I predict:

Jets 24, Patriots 21

A little pay-back for New York sports fans. Either way it will be a good game.

We all have interests outside of football and the Eagles (and no, I’m not talking about the Phillies). I read a lot (or at least I used to): no surprise I had few friends in high school, because I was the kid that sat there and read for hours and hours and hours. Today I don’t as much, in part because I read things all day in law school and studying for the bar, and in part because I don’t have the time anymore to devote to sitting down and actually bothering to flip open a book. There are a few writers I consider to be worth my time: Christopher Buckley is one whose every book is a joy to read. Buckley, the son conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, is a terrific writer of satirical novels about the tobacco industry (Thank You For Smoking), the alien-abduction community (Little Green Men), and political memoirs (The White House Mess). He just got done writing Florence of Arabia, a satirical novel about the Middle East. I’ve read the excerpts in The Atlantic Monthly (Part I here, Part II here), and they are hilarious. Buckley has a wryly cynical writing that locks onto people / figure that are pompous and self-important and blows them out of the water. Check out the excerpts or buy the book.

The big subplot to the Browns - Eagles game this weekend is the "showdown" of sorts between T.O. and Jeff Garcia. The two didn't see eye-to-eye in San Francisco, and they've hardly buried the hatchet now. Mostly, it is all about T.O.'s unhappiness over Garcia not forcing him the ball more in SF.

While I love what T.O. has done for the Eagles offense this season, some of his comments about Garcia were below the belt and immature. You just worry, with all of T.O.'s talk, that he's going to fire up Garcia and have him play the game of his life. I guess we'll see.

Last week: 11-3; Season-to-date: 40-16

I know that the NFL is getting second-billing to the MLB Playoffs (when did that happen?), but there are a slate of good games coming up, first and foremost being the big Jets - Patriots game. Here are my picks:

Baltimore over Buffalo; yawn
Carolina over San Diego; Carolina needs this one to stay alive.
Jaguars over Colts; upset special. Jags, don't let me down!
Atlanta over Kansas City; Chiefs season is over & it looks like the AFC South belongs to the Falcons.
St. Louis over Miami; a reverse of the 1972 season? 0-16 for the '04 Dolphins?
Minnesota over Tennessee; what's wrong with the Titans? And who would have thought that the NFC North would be so interesting?
Detroit over NY Giants; first chink in the Giants armor.
Chicago over Tampa Bay; I suppose someone has to win. Memo to Jon Gruden: when you team is aging, don't bring in veterans!
Seattle over Arizona; Seattle starts its rehab with a win over the Cards. Rice's first game away from a Bay Area team.
Green Bay over Dallas; Packers righten ship, make NFC North interesting.
Saints over Raiders; yawn II
Bengals over Broncos; a mild upset. The Bengals need this game because there is no way they can salvage their season after a 1-5 start.
Jets over Patriots; Yeah, I'm going with the Jets! I think this weekend is the Pats end of the road. The Jets are well-coached, tough, disciplined, intelligent ... these guys can pull it off. Either way, it'll be a great game.
Eagles over Browns; 6-0!

Having lived in Pittsburgh for the last nine years I’ve watched plenty of Steelers – Browns games on TV here in Pittsburgh. (Cleveland and Pittsburgh, separated by a few hours of roadways and some dying steel towns, are forever comparing one to the other. Two cities more alike than they’d care to admit.) This is supposedly, one of the great rivalries in pro football, right up there with Cowboys-Redskins, Chiefs-Raiders and Bears-Packers.

I’d don’t see it.

It is pretty one-sided rivalry: the Steelers typically demolish the Browns, or the Browns blow golden opportunities to beat them. Who remembers the Browns blowing the big fourth quarter lead in the '02 playoffs? The passion to beat the Stillers isn’t matched by the Browns abilities. For whatever reason, this franchise can’t win (e.g., the '87, '88, and '90 AFC title games). It had to go to Baltimore and change its name to win the Super Bowl.

So this will be an easy victory, right? 6-0? Wrong. This has all of the ear-marks of an ambush: the better team rolling into town with some nagging doubts (the play of the Eagles offense these last two games), the seemingly inferior team coming out to greet them. Of course, the Browns are 3-0 at home, having beaten the Redskins and Ravens (and the Bengals). Oh, and the Browns 1-2 duo of Green and Suggs are starting to have success pounding the ball on the ground against an Eagles run defense that was spotty last week. Oh, and Jeff Garcia beat the Eagles last year with the ‘Niners.

Uh-oh.

Relax. I still think that the Eagles will win. The Browns are okay. Not bad, but not great either. The Eagles were fortunate to dodge having to face Kellen Winslow, Jr., this year. This guy is like Jeremy Shockey, but with an IQ. Garcia is crafty and tough, but the Browns lack the weapons to keep pace with the Eagles. If the game turns into a shoot-out, then the Eagles will run away with it. But that won’t happen: they shouldn’t get more than a few points against the Eagles defense, which has bent-but-not-broken all season long.

Defensively, the Browns are okay. Their good 18.8 points allowed a game is somewhat flawed in that they gave up just 3 points to the offensively challenged Ravens in Week 1. They’ve given up a lot of yards on the ground and in the air. T.O. will probably have some fun against the Browns corners and you had better believe he’ll be playing at full-throttle with the opportunity to show-up his archrival, Mr. Garcia. It is also worth remembering that the last team McNabb played the Browns he cut them apart, for 23 of 36 and 4 TD’s.

Close one: Eagles 21, Browns 20

The Inquirer's Bob Brookover and an AP Sports writer chime in with some thoughts on the Eagles sluggish offense the last two weeks.

What disturbed me, after reading Brookover's article, were T.O.'s complaints that he had been open for much of the game. Remember his screaming matches with Jeff Garcia when Garcia didn't get the ball to him as often as he liked? Is this the beginning of the end of T.O.'s honeymoon in Philly?

The outcome was hardly a surprise (I see that a whopping 94% of Yahoo!’s pick ‘em participants picked the Eagles to win), but it was sort of a nice thing to see the Eagles even up the score from last January’s NFC title game. It was hardly a fair fight: the Eagles have vastly improved themselves, while the Panthers looked like a shell of the team that came within three points of winning the Super Bowl. Still, a win is a win, and this win elevated the Eagles to 5-0, one of just three undefeated teams left in the NFL.

-T.O. was right in saying that the Eagles offense didn’t play well. While T.O. had a terrific day on paper (123 receiving yards always looks good), all of his yards came on plays in the first half. The Eagles managed just ten first downs. 42 of the Eagles 81 rushing yards came from Westbrook’s TD run in the fourth quarter which iced the game. Here is a sobering thought: of the Eagles 283 yards of offense, 146 came on just three plays: T.O.’s 53 and 51 yard catches, and Westbrook’s TD run. That’s 51%. Not good. Luckily, those plays led (directly and indirectly) to 17 points.

-What happened to the Eagles wideouts? After the first drive Pinkston practically disappeared from the game. Eagles not wearing #81 had just 86 yards receiving. That’s pathetic. Those stats remind me of the bad old days when McNabb would be drilling Thrash in the hands, only to see him drop it.

-And what happened to the running game? Throw out Westbrook’s run and the Eagles had just 2 yards a carry. Is Westbrook running down already?

-This game really was the defense’s day: two sacks, four picks, and no real big plays given up. Again, Kearse was a key: Jake Delhomme may have completed 24 throws, but he was pressured and harried all day long and he took some brutal hits. Thanks to the pressure from Kearse & Co., the Panthers averaged just 4.2 yards a pass (the Eagles: 7.5) … And hats off to Lito Shepard for a terrific performance on the corner. I’ve been a doubter, but he came through with two picks. Nice job.

Last year the offense carried the team. This year it is the defense. Lots of Pro Bowlers back there.

-Next up, the 3-3 Cleveland Browns a team that is 0-3 on the road and 3-0 at home. Ominously, the Eagles have to travel to the Mistake by the Lake (as Pittsburghers derisively refer to Cleveland as) for this game. Could this be the dead-knell for the Eagles quest for an undefeated season? It has all of the ear-marks of an upset game, given that the Eagles will have to travel to enemy territory and face off with a team that is playing much better than their record indicates, while the Eagles offense appears to be stalling a little. I still say the Eagles win, but it is a nail-biter: Eagles 21, Browns 20

(Oh, and who did the Eagles schedule? Three in a row against the AFC North, three in a row against the NFC North, three in a row against the NFC East? Balance!)

If the Eagles do survive, they’ll be just one of two 6-0 teams left in the NFL: the Jets-Pats showdown next Sunday will thin the ranks of the unbeaten one way or the other. If the Eagles can survive the coming games with the AFC North (Steelers, Ravens, and Browns) they’ll be sitting in the drivers seat. The Giants have tough games against the Vikings and Lions coming up, and the Cowboys and Redskins can’t afford to fall any further behind then they already are. At worst, the Eagles should be 6-2 (but more likely 7-1 or 8-0) going into the big Monday Night showdown in Dallas on November 15. As soon as the Eagles dispatch the Giants on November 28, the Eagles can start thinking of home field.

Jerry Rice wants out of Oakland? Seeing him pout about not getting a catch in a victory over the Bills a few weeks ago calls into question his heart and commitment to the game. Is his goal to get back to the Super Bowl or to obliterate the record book so badly Randy Moss and T.O. will have to play until they are 50 to break his records? If he's dealt to the Lions will he pout if they make it to the playoffs without his help?

Last week's record: 8-6! Season-to-date: 29-13!

Week 6:

Buffalo over Miami; the battle of the losers culminates with Buffalo's first win of the season. Miami continues to slide into the abyss.
Atlanta over San Diego; people in San Diego can see what they missed out on. The Chargers season looks like an audition from Drew Brees to be another team's starting QB. He'll be in Oakland in 2005, I bet.
Cincinnati over Cleveland; the battle for last place in the AFC North is joined. The Bengals have more weapons at their disposal, so they'll win it. Watching Jeff Garcia scramble around without any weapons on the field has been a little sad. Hey Butch Davis: give the poor guy a little help!
Washington over Chicago; I suppose someone has to win it. The Redskins have fewer flaws, so I give them the edge. Let's wait until the offseason, when Daniel Snyder will fire Joe Gibbs, shower money on high-priced veteran free agents and lure Steve Spurrier back into the fold...
Detroit over Green Bay; the race for the NFC North is quickly becoming a two-team race, and the Lions will hasten that along with a big win here. It is stunning to see how badly the Packers have fallen on hard times. The mystique of Lambeau is gone, Favre looks angry and confused ... what happened?
Jacksonville over Kansas City; I have a lot of faith in the Jags, but they seem to be slipping. I give them the edge here.
Seattle over New England; upset special. This is a critical game for the Seahawks after their humiliating 33-27 loss to the Rams. Not only do they need to win to keep ahead of the Rams, but they need a big win to buttress their shaky confidence. I think they can do it, and I bet that Hasselback will put on a show.
Jets over 49ers; The Jets and Eagles will emerge from Week 6 as the sole undefeateds. It won't be close.
Houston over Tennessee; hard not to be impressed by the Texans thus far in '04. Could this be the emergence of a new power in the AFC South?
Denver over Oakland;
St. Louis over Tampa Bay; remarkably the Buccaneers actually won the Super Bowl two years ago. The 2004 team has to struggle to beat the Saints. Chris Simms and Brian Greise might have impressive bloodlines, but the NFL isn't horse-racing. Neither of these guys have, or will, hack it in the NFL. Easy win for the Rams, bouyed by their shocking win over the Seahawks last week.
Minnesota over New Orleans; Culpepper and Moss will bomb the Saints for 400 yards of offense. It's still early yet though. Plenty of time for the Vikings to fall apart.
Pittsburgh over Dallas; I'm reluctant to call this a "must-win" game for the Cowboys, but if the Eagles win and they lose they will be three games behind the Eagles and probably finished from competing for the NFC East title. If the Cowboys fall, then the November 28th Eagles-Giants game is shaping up to be the NFC East's Appomattox.

Meanwhile, the Steelers continue to surprise. Homefield runs through Heinz Field? I can see it. They look like the AFC's best team, right now. They have an explosive passing game, terrific 1-2 rushing attack, and a hard-hitting defense. Ed Rendell might get his Steelers-Eagles Super Bowl wish.

Eagles over Panthers. 5-0, baby!

Nice article from the Inquirer's Shannon Ryan about the presence of Eagles players on the 'net. Any players checking out The Bird Blog?

When the 2004 schedule came out more than a few Eagles fans circled the October 17th game against the Panthers and pegged it as a critical game: Revenge, possible playoff implications (many of us assumed that the Panthers would be one of the teams competing against the Eagles for homefield), etc.

Revenge is still at the top of the list for most Eagles fans, but keeping the Eagles perfect season alive is now of paramount importance. Luckily, the Panthers look like a shell of the team they were in 2003, when their grinding, physical style powered them to the Super Bowl. Wideout Steve Smith is gone, DeShaun Foster is gone, a depleted Stephen Davis will be carrying the load solo, injuries in their defensive unit ... the Eagles have the clear edge in this matchup, coming off a bye week with few injuries to speak of. The Birds have the clear edge. Call it:

Eagles 24, Panthers 14

What a wild weekend in the NFL! The Patriots won their 19th consecutive game, the number of undefeated teams shrank to three (Eagles, Jets, Patriots) and the Seahawks completely blew it against the Rams …

I watched the Rams-Seahawks game and I was stunned by what I saw: the Seahawks stymied the Rams offense and held them to ten points for fifty-five minutes of the game, and then proceeded to give up 17 points in the last five minutes of OT, followed by a touchdown in the opening drive of overtime. If Ray Rhodes keeps his job over this in the off-season, he’ll be lucky …

Here in the NFC East the Ravens 17-10 win over the Redskins is very good news for the Eagles: at 1-4, the Redskins have little hope of chasing us for anything. As for the Cowboys: what is wrong with those guys this season? I thought they’d be the team to beat for the Eagles, but this season is shaping up to be a one-on-one duel between the Eagles and G-men. Speaking of which … count me as skeptical about the Giants 4-1 record. All it will take to put these guys down will be a big hit on Kurt Warner or something…

Watching the Falcons fall from the ranks of the unbeaten was enjoyable: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Michael Vick, for all of his flashiness, is maddeningly inconsistent and not a complete player. Yesterday, against the Lions, he threw for just 196 yards and rushed for just 29. He had no touchdowns and had three turnovers (two fumbles and an interception).

Congrats to the Pats on winning their 19th in a row! Classic victory for them: defense, defense, defense, timely throw by Brady. You've got to wonder: how long will that last?

I also watched the Steelers – Browns game. Duce had a terrific day, and this Rothlisberger [sic?] guy has played well for the Stillers. Even so, watching the game I was left to wonder if the victory was because of the Steelers ability, or the Browns incompetence. (I’ve watched the Browns play the Steelers for years now and every time I shake my head at the mental mistakes and bone-headed decisions the Browns make against their archrivals.)

Tonight … Titans and Pack.

Anyone going to watch the big games today? I can barely bring myself to watch my alma mater (Pitt), given how badly the Big East has fallen on hard times and how badly coach Walt Harris has been getting out-recruited and out-coached.

Today will be some big college football games, but the best one will be the Oklahoma - Texas showdown in Dallas at noon. I know that OU has beat Texas four consecutive years, but I have a good feeling about UT today. I go with Texas in the upset 24-21 ...

Oh, the bliss of the NFL bye week! Sitting down on your couch, secure in the knowledge that your team can't lose this week, which frees you up to become the dispassionate NFL fan, calmly identifying (and taking joy in) the foibles of the teams chasing your favorite team. With the Eagles taking the week off in preparation for facing off with the Panthers (snap prediction: the Eagles will easily beat the Panthers on October 17 thanks to the added week of preparation), Birds fans can relax and check out what the rest of the NFL is up to.

Week 4 predictions: 10-4.

Season to date: 21-7.

Week 5 predictions:

Detroit over Atlanta; the Falcons undefeated season comes to rest against the Lions...
Pittsburgh over Cleveland; Duce will have another big game for the Stillers ...
New England over Miami; 19 wins in a row
Tampa Bay over New Orleans; I guess this is an upset. Jon Gruden looking less like an genius these days...
Minnesota over Houston; I picked the Texans in upsets two weeks in a row, but the Vikes are too strong...
Indianapolis over Oakland ; yawn. Blowout.
Jacksonville over San Diego ; the battle of the surprising teams. I give the edge to the Jags...
Dallas over New York Giants; don't believe their 3-1 record. The Giants ain't that good. The Cowboys are better.
Seattle over St. Louis; if Seattle wins I don't see how the Rams can catch them.
New York Jets over Buffalo; are the Jets the strongest team in the AFC? I think they might be. I look forward to the first of the Jets - Patriots meetings.
Arizona over San Francisco; Larry Fitzgerald (Pitt alumnus) will have a big day. This guy is a super-star.
Carolina over Denver; mild upset. I like the Panthers grit over the Broncos, who still look weak to me...
Baltimore over Washington; the winner of the battle of the BW corridor will be the Ravens, based on their defense. Their offense continues to resemble a Pop Warner football team.

Green Bay over Tennessee; this is the game of the week for the simple fact that the loser's season is essentially finished. No way a team can start 1-4 and hope to make the playoffs.

Ricky Williams wants back in Miami, despite ditching the team late in the preseason? Chalk this up to being the 5,682nd odd thing Ricky Williams has done or said in his NFL career. I somehow doubt that he'll be welcomed back with open arms, even with how desparate the Dolphins are for a running game with their 0-4 start that has effectively ended their season.

Can't trust him...

Jamal Lewis conspired to help set up a drug deal in 2000? The NFL, if it had any backbone, should throw the book at Lewis and ban him from the game for a year or more. He's an admitted felon, a criminal who participated in a cocaine deal. (And give me a break with the youthful indescretion defense: he was 20 years old.) How can the league pretend their players are role-models when they are coke-dealing felons? Pro sports turns a blind eye to criminals in their midst too much. Jamal Lewis' crimes go too far.

Friday Night Lights comes out tomorrow. Terrific story by a Philadelphia Inquirer writer about how a small town in Texas lost its soul worshipping at the altar of high school football. Buy (and read) the book.

I would recommend reading Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback column on NFL.com this week, except that Mr. Easterbrook has sadly avoided mentioning the Birds in his weekly wrap-up of the NFL. Even despite that glaring omission, TMQB is still worthwhile reading.

I've been a fan of Easterbrook for years. He's written terrific articles for The New Republic and The Atlantic Monthly (his attack on SUVs in the New Republic last year was so insightful and interesting that I quoted it in a paper I was writing for law school). He brings a very different eye to the game of football: an intellectual's delight in the hidden complexities of a game that many would write-off as a bunch of guys knocking the crap out of each other.

(Intellectual dissertations of football aren't new, even for the Atlantic: the Philadelphia Inquirer's Mark Bowden, author of Killing Pablo and Blackhawk Down, is a frequent Atlantic Monthly contributor and wrote a terrific profile of Eagles Center Hank Fraley detailing Fraley's mental preparation for the game for the magazine's January / February issue.)

Easterbrook also seems to have a thing for the Eagles cheerleaders. So he's a good guy. Read him.

After finishing second in the MVP voting to Marshall Faulk in 2000, Eagles fans have been waiting for the NFL to give Donovan his due but the NFL publicity machine has favored the flashier Michael Vick as its premier QB. While Vick has been so-so as the Falcons signal-caller (the Falcons strong 4-0 start due to their stifling defensive unit), so far McNabb's stellar performance matches the Eagles formitable 4-0 record. What are Donovan's numbers?

McNabb is presently:

4th in completion percentage (68%)

3rd in QB rating (after Culpepper and Manning at 110.5)

2nd in TD passes with 9 (after Manning's 11)

and 1st in yards with 1,168 (ahead of Manning)

The MVP race is shaping up to be a two-horse race...

A nice article from the Inquirer's Bob Brookover about the Eagles soaring 4-0 start. Based on what we've seen I think that the Eagles can go to the Super Bowl, they can go to the NFC title game, they can win the division, and they can make the playoffs, but I agree with Brookover: this team won't go 19-0. They'll lose, and I have my money on the Steelers game November 7 as their first loss. By that point they should be 7-0 and so far ahead of the rest of the field they can absorb the temporary hit.

This team can beat the Panthers because it is faster and, thanks to Kearse, tougher than last year.

This team can beat the Browns because the Browns lack the weapons to keep up with the Eagles, especially now that Kellen Winslow is gone for the year.

This team can beat the Ravens because Kyle Boller isn't an NFL quarterback.

If this team can get past the Steelers, the sky is the limit.

The Eagles should be a lock to win every game except the one against the Vikings, so they should be 3-1 or 4-0 heading into the bye.

So I said on August 27, just before the start of the Eagles 2004 season. Sure enough, on October 4, Eagles fans wake up to see their team 4-0, heading into a bye. The team looking to greet them on the other side is the increasingly weak 1-2 Carolina Panthers, who were absolutely dominated by Vick and the Falcons yesterday.

This morning there are just five undefeated teams left in the NFL, and few would seriously say that the Eagles aren't playing the best, or near the best, of all of them. Let's break sunday down:

The good: Critics said that the McNabb - T.O. partnership would never work because McNabb was too inaccurate to be the efficient passer that T.O. needs. After four games McNabb is hitting at 68% and has connected on 26 passes to T.O. for six touchdowns.

Does Brian Westbrook remind anyone else of Marshall Faulk in '99, when he rushed for 1,000 yards and caught passes for 1,000 yards? With 206 yards recieving and 347 yards rushing, Westbrook is on his way to having a banner year.

Remember when the Eagles couldn't stop anyone on the ground last year? They gave up just 32 yards to the NFC's top rusher yesterday. For the season, the Eagles are giving up just 89 yards a game. Big improvement over '03.

While officially he only got one tackle yesterday, Jevon Kearse was a real wrecking ball on the defensive front, enabling the Birds to pressure poor Mr. Quinn all day long and sack him four times. Have to wonder what he's going to do against the Panthers in two weeks.

The bad: Freddie Mitchell and Todd Pinkston continue to disappoint: a combined 4 catches for 46 yards. Boys, you need to step it up in a big way. With T.O. drawing the double-teams with the safety, you should be free to work some magic on the outside.

The ugly: durability is going to become an issue with Westbrook soon. I was happy to see Andy Reid give Levens some work yesterday, but with Westbrook catching passes left and right and running hard up the middle, is he going to be 100% for the playoffs? (Or even 70%?)

Now, a bye, that most magical of weekends when you get to relax and see what the rest of the NFL is up to. After that the Eagles gave games against teams that look fairly weak this year, the Browns and Panthers. Can't see why the Eagles won't be 6-0 going into the heart of their schedule.